Lakers Outlast Celtics in OT

Even with both teams at their absolute worst, they just keep adding another chapter in their historical rivalry. Jeremy Lin rekindled his "Linsanity" form as he was the Lakers' top performer off the bench with 25 points and 6 assists on 10-15 shooting as the Lakers dispatched the Celtics 111-118 in OT. Wesley Johnson was the next leading scorer off the bench with 22 points on 9-11 shooting, quite possibly his best output in his two years as a Laker. Nick Young added 19 points and Jordan Hill added 10 points to round out the bench. Carlos Boozer was the only starter in double-figures as he returned to the starting lineup, putting up 12 points and 8 rebounds.

Final Score: vs. Boston 111-118 (OT) [W]
Full article: http://www.nba.com/games/20150222/BOSLAL/gameinfo.html

Highlights:

Next Game: @ Utah (02/25)

Lakers Fall to Nets After Break

Tank mode continues for the Lakers, even after the All-Star break. Ed Davis was the Lakers' top performer off the bench, recording a double-double of 16 points and 14 rebounds, but the Lakers couldn't keep up with the Nets after their 40 point barrage in the 3rd quarter, losing 114-105. Jeremy Lin was the top scorer off the bench, racking up 18 points and Jordan Hill added 12 points. Both Ryan Kelly and Jordan Clarkson added 12 points and Robert Sacred chipped in 13 points to round out the starters.

Final Score: vs. Brooklyn 114-105 [L]
Full article: http://www.nba.com/games/20150220/BKNLAL/gameinfo.html

Highlights:

Next Game: vs. Boston (02/22)

Lakers Trail Blazed by Trailblazers Prior to All-Star Weekend

Jordan Clarkson bounced back from Tuesday night's game vs. the Nuggets as he was the Lakers' top performer with 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, but Portland was too much for the Lakers, beating them 86-102, piling on more misery into the break. Wayne Ellington added 16 points and Robert Sacre added 12 points to round out the starters. Wesley Johnson was the leading scorer off the bench with 12 points.

Final Score: @ Portland 86-102 [L]
Full recap: www.nba.com/games/20150211/LALPOR/gameinfo.html?ls=slt

Highlights:

Next Game: vs. Brooklyn (02/20)

Lakers Collapse vs. Nuggets

Alright welcome in to the full recap of the Lakers' game vs. the Denver Nuggets where the Lakers put up a good fight in their return home from the 4-game Grammy road trip, but the effort just wasn't enough as the Lakers fell to the Nuggets 106-96.

Very uninspiring game to watch on national TV with both teams having long losing streaks, but the Nuggets just snapped that just now. With the way the Lakers started and lead, it could be safe to assume that they got this in the bag, but this is not 2008-2011, no Laker lead is safe anymore. As usual, the lack of talent, lack of consistency, and insurmountable injuries are playing a factor, so no surprise that the Lakers would clamp down the stretch, especially when they don't have anyone on the floor who has experience in leading a team to victory in crunch time.

The Positives

Carlos Boozer, 21 points, 10 rebounds, 8-15 shooting. Nowadays, Boozer is the one leading all scorers and putting up consistent number off the bench. He may have started slow this game, as he was struggling to get a shot up, but he came through in the 2nd half in vain. Instead of settling for jump shots, Boozer was getting to the basket, making layups look easy. He faked out J.J. Hickson big time in one play for the easy deuce although it was clearly obvious Hickson thought there was help defensively. Booze played his heart out tonight, hustling and scoring off the bench.

Wayne Ellington, 18 points, 8-13 shooting. He started out near perfect, missed a couple of shots to lower his percentage, but I thought Ellington played a clean game out there. To describe it, he was more patient with his shot selection and eluding defenders to get a cleaner look at the basket. Like I said in the halftime post, he showed more fundamentals and by doing so, he made high percentage shots. So kudos to Ellington for improving his game tonight. Hopefully, we can see that on a day-to-day basis.

The Negatives

Turnovers. The Lakers barely turned the ball over in the first half. In the second half, it was a whole different story. As bad as the Lakers are right now, those killers turnovers have been seen a lot and this game was just another example of imploding when the team is just about to rally. Lin accounted for half those turnovers with 5 of the Lakers' 10 and some of that resulted from either dribbling too much or trying to make a desperate pass.

Nick Young, 12 points, 4-12 shooting. Will the real Swaggy P please stand up? He'll score double figures, but the numbers are not going to be that impressive with the way he is shooting as of late. Of course he had the highlight 4 point play, but other than that, nothing from him all game long. The bench is good, but the bench is much better when he is scoring at will and at some point, he has to have one of those games. He's the 2nd option in scoring besides Kobe right? Then, he's gotta live up to that.

Conclusion

Overall, it's the game pattern. Lakers make it competitive, but when the player on the opposing team scores 30 or more, the game is loss and in this case, they got burned by Ty Lawson big time. As a Laker fan, I'm not surprise because he has given headache performances like that in the past. Lakers lose again, water is wet, simply put, it is what it is. The Lakers go on the road again tomorrow to take on the Trail Blazers, so expect a quick recap for that considering it's not nationally televised. I'll see you guys after the All-Star break.

02/10: LAKERS vs. Denver Nuggets Q-by-Q Reaction

Q4:

Score: DEN 106 LAL 96

Ty Lawson is just a thorn in the eye for the Lakers' defense. It was a good effort for the Lakers to try and tact on a win after debacles in the Grammy's road trip, but the lack of talent and the hamper of injuries showed for this Laker squad. Another loss, and yet it is for a common good to tank and get the top pick. Stay tuned for the full recap.

Q3:

Score: DEN 71 LAL 70

And the Nuggets have gotten their act together offensively. At one point, the Lakers' lead was 52-59 and after that fast break dunk by Tarik Black, the Lakers couldn't get anything going offensively and Ty Lawson kicked it into overdrive and did what he has done to us countless times in the past, blowing past our guards and scoring. Luckily, an and 1 by Boozer and jumper by Young are some of the plays that are keeping the Lakers hanging right now, otherwise with the way the Nuggets played this quarter, it would've gotten out of hand.

Q2:

Score: DEN 45 LAL 48

The Nuggets are hanging around, despite some piss poor play from the starters. The Lakers though, they're getting a lot of second chance possessions + points as they are just completely wiping the floor in the rebounding game and that's the reason why they have the leverage right now. We had a JAVALE MCGEE sighting. Talk about the Nuggets playing desperate. Onto the halftime report.

Q1:

Score: DEN 24 LAL 29

In a matchup against two of the bottom dwellers in the West, a good start for the Lakers offensively. They started with 7-0 run, I thought the offense looked very sharp. The Nuggets offense then got going after a timeout by B. Shaw, but I thought the offense has been consistent all quarter long. Wayne Ellington played a big part in that, getting off to a good start with 11 of the Lakers' 29 points. Other than that, just a good start for the Laker offense, getting it going early. It's just what the doctor ordered.

LAKERS vs. Nuggets Halftime Post

Score: DEN 45 LAL 48

Alright welcome in to the halftime post of the Lakers' matchup with the Denver Nuggets where the Lakers hang on to a three point lead, leading 45-48 at the half.

The Positives

Wayne Ellington, 13 points, 6-7 shooting. A great first half for Ellington, he's making it "Wayne" against the Nuggets' lackluster defense. I like the fact that Ellington is playing fundamental basketball out there, faking a defender, taking one more dribble and shooting the jump shot and he's constantly finding the high percentage shot this game.

Rebounding. The overall rebounding numbers may sound close as the Lakers out-rebound the Nuggets 19-26 because both teams are tied in the defensive rebounding category, but the Lakers are just killing Denver right now in the offensive rebounding. 11 offensive rebounds to 3 rebounds and the Nuggets have a high energy guy in Kenneth Faried and they're just getting pummeled right now on the offensive boards.

The Negatives

Nick Young, 2 points, 1-5 shooting. We can put the bench shooting as another negative too because aside from Jeremy Lin on a perfect 3-3 shooting, the shooting performance from the bench is lackluster overall. However, the one person I'm looking at is this guy. Swaggy P has been loafing on his shot selection and scoring off the bench to the point Lin and Boozer and sometimes Davis has to pick up his slack. He's gotta get back to that 20+ point performance off the bench and it starts with him making his shots.

Bottom Line

Great game so far. I'm just joking right there. All kidding aside, the Lakers gotta start turning up the defense against a Nuggets team that are just playing lazy and uninspired right now. The offense has gotta get back up and perform like it did in the first quarter. This game should not be close as it should considering the way the Lakers have started early on. Let's see what happens in the 2nd half.

Lakers Thumped by Cavs

The Lakers go winless on their annual Grammy road trip and Sunday's game was evident. Jordan Clarkson was the Lakers' top performer with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists on 6-14 shooting, but they couldn't catch up with the Cavs as the Big 3 of LeBron, K. Love, and Irving combined for 82 points to help rout the Lakers 105-120, piling on the misery of this road trip while the Lakers continue to pile on themselves for a top pick. Wayne Ellington added 12 points to round out the starters and Ed Davis was the leading scorer off the bench with 16 points and 9 rebounds on 6-7 shooting. Wesley Johnson racked up 15 points and Jeremy Lin added 11 points to round out the bench.

Final Score: @ Cleveland 105-120 [L]
Full article: http://www.nba.com/games/20150208/LALCLE/gameinfo.html?ls=slt

Highlights:

Next Game: vs. Denver <= Q-by-Q, Halftime, and Full Recap Posts